AMD Shows Off Hybrid Windows 8 Tablet from Compal

We all know Intel has been busy marketing Ultrabooks for thin and light computing for close to a year now. AMD is just about catching up to deliver their version called “Ultrathin” or ultra thin-and-light notebooks with the assistance of AMD’s new Trinity APU.

At Computex, we managed to witness a few prototypes that will uphold AMD’s promise of balanced computing in a thin and light form factor. The most eye-catching of them was an 11.6-inch hybrid tablet that docks with its keyboard component to form an ultrathin notebook.

Much more usable than ASUS’s Eee Pad Transformer Prime in terms of form factor and versatility, this Compal demo unit’s slightly larger footprint has more breathing room for better typing experience. Not to forget, it’s running Windows 8 and factoring in both tablet and PC usage modes, it is able to accomplish a lot more than a pure Android tablet. Using an ultra low-powered AMD Triniy APU (17W TDP), the demo showed that it was very fluid and responsive for most common tasks.

We can’t wait to evaluate more of this Compal hybrid tablet in detail, as well as others from various vendors that would undoubtedly follow suit in short succession in Q3 and Q4 of 2012.

With AMD now finally having equivalent options to rival Intel, the tablet and thin-and-light notebook space just got more interesting. From the price points of existing AMD Trinity APU based notebooks, the red-team’s options also seem to be friendlier on the wallet. Time will tell if this holds true for other device segments.